There will be a Countdown event at the 2017 Mind Sports Olympiad.
For details of all events at MSO see http://www.msoworld.com/events/
This is held in London at the end of August and there is a slot on the Bank Holiday Monday
for a Countdown event. Top three places will get the gold/silver/bronze medals
and there would be junior medals too if enough juniors play and do well enough.

There have been Countdown events at the MSO before but not for a while
and most recently there was a CO LONDON event on the spare day in the MSO calendar.

So confirmed for Monday 28th August 2017 from 10:15 to 18:00 at
JW3, 341-351 Finchley Road, London NW3 6ET.
This is a modern Jewish Community Centre - please note food and knives etc may not be brought on site.

Tony Atkins wrote:Anyone up to having a Countdown event at the 2017 Mind Sports Olympiad?
This is held in London at the end of August and there is the possibility that
there is a slot on either the Bank Holiday Monday or the Sunday before for
a Countdown event. Top three places would get the gold/silver/bronze medals
and there would be junior medals too if enough juniors play and do well enough.

There have been Countdown events at the MSO before bu not for a while
and most recently there was a COLON event on the spare day in the MSO calendar.

I am winning to help run it, but it would be great if someone would be able to
run the projection software instead of card letters.

Comments please.

Who've you spoken to about it? I spoke to Craig Beevers about it a while back and he said:

"I would think Mindsports International will have some sort of exclusivity deal, what exactly that covers though I don't know. They're heavily invested with Scrabble and I work part time with them getting content and essentially getting schools signed up to their program. I'm skeptical of whether they'd take on another word game. But it depends on their perception and whether it is seen as competing with Scrabble or two things which could be mutually beneficial. They wouldn't expect any financial contribution if they were interested. "

I'd be happy to help you on the day, Tony, but I would need a refresher course in using the software. Or it might just be easier to go low-tech. I cannot promise help before the day, though. It's good to know that there is still some interest from MSO in Countdown. Perhaps there could be some sort of reciprocal publicity arrangement, as we had with Comultilon.

They approached me a few years ago about doing an apterous event, so I don't think there's any exclusivity of word games. (The event didn't happen in the end because I couldn't make the dates, but other than that I think it's viable.)

Thanks to Heather for offering to help and the MSO team (nothing to do with MSI), we have a provisional date
of the bank holiday Monday 28th August 2017. It will run from 10:15 to 18:00 with a lunch break, but as it their
last day the medals will be in the closing ceremony which usually ends about 19:30 (anyone dashing off for a train
back to Yorkshire or any other country doesn't need to wait). They will decide for sure if they can have us in January.

I will no longer be co-hosting this event. I have already explained why to Tony. I know that this won't bother most people either way, but equally I hope that it might encourage some more people to attend. I won't respond to any questions or comments in public or private about this.